Visualizing Asian Energy Consumption

December 27, 2011

Visualizing Asian Energy Consumption

An animation shows the rapid rise of coal consumption.

I’ve heard it many times before. Remarkable growth in Asia is leading to big increases in coal consumption and carbon-dioxide emissions. But I didn’t have a good sense of just how big that change has been until I saw this graphic from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Asia’s coal use was smaller than Europe’s in 1980. Now it dwarfs coal consumption even in North America, the world’s second-largest consumer. (Refresh the page to replay the animation.)